In light of the hundreds of alleged reports against Weinstein, Lauer, Burke etc it is timely to reflect on behaviour that has permeated the professional world of sales.

It is an industry I love and I’ve dedicated most of my professional life to helping great people grow and win business, but it’s time to grow in a different way.

Sexual harassment and assault is not new in corporate life and the sales department is far from innocent.

Many years ago, before it was deemed acceptable or fashionable, or even possible, I confronted sexual harassment when a ‘high revenue generator’ was behaving disgustingly.

Please forgive the raw language, but the truth is the truth.

He would say to female staff members ‘Do you want to see my huge c…’ and ‘Looks like there’s no chair, you’ll have to sit on my face’.

It then progressed to him being in an aroused state rubbing and grinding into the receptionist or new client support person saying ‘Oops, bit of a tight squeeze in here, isn’t it’

The response I got as a male calling out this bastardry included:

‘He’s our biggest fee earner, come on, get real’

‘Don’t you realise he could lose his marriage or even his holiday house if this got out?

‘I understand the girls having a whinge, but do you really want to pursue this, it’s not like it was done to you’

‘OK, if you really want to make an issue of this, how about we give you a bit of a bonus?’

I declined that lovely, magnanimous offer, kept pursuing it, he left…and being persona non grata, so did I.

Over the years, we’ve all seen unconscionable behaviour including the protection of the powerful who bring in the bucks and the dismissal of those who have been aggrieved and affected.

Whilst the massive majority are men, the female predator doesn’t get out lightly either.

Young, good looking, married male account managers who have just become fathers have been confronted with their female boss saying:

‘Why don’t you take that ring off and join me after the conference for a drink…you’re obviously not getting any at home at the moment’

The abuse of power linked to sex including allocation of territories/accounts and bonuses continued for too long and has never really been confronted.

It is always about power and sales has been susceptible to protecting high revenue earners for too long, not just for sexual harassment but for bullying as well.

Whilst many organisations have put policies in place, changed cultures and addressed it, some still pay lip service to it and there are others who have done nothing and we all owe it to the thousands of men and women who bust a gut diligently winning and maintaining clients, to call it out.

The worst sale you’ll ever make is the one where you sell yourself out.

I’ll leave you with the prescient words of the iconic band ‘The Eagles’ in 1979 with the lyrics of ‘King of Hollywood’

‘He’s just another power junkie,

Just another silk scarf monkey,

You’d know it if you saw his stuff,

The man just isn’t big enough’

Elliot Epstein is a leading Pitch Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Corporate Sales Expert, Negotiation and Presentation trainer who gets sales results rapidly. He has coached and trained high profile corporates globally in presenting, selling, negotiating and pitching. He has spoken at over 1500 conferences and workshops for leading companies such as HP, SEEK, Avaya, Hitachi , Asciano, Samsung and Lend Lease.

He is internationally renowned for ensuring sessions are engaging, interactive and relevant to winning business in competitive markets.

Elliot is based in Melbourne where he lives with his wife and two children.